


The Seven Jewels of Guardia

by AnneLaurant



Category: W.I.T.C.H.
Genre: Action, Adventure, Alternate Universe, Fantasy, Gen, experimental fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:00:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27416923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnneLaurant/pseuds/AnneLaurant
Summary: In a desert town, a man awakens with no memory, but only his name and his goal to go someplace he doesn't even know about. Then, underneath a labyrinthine library, he awakens one of the most powerful human weapons.Elemental Gelade AU
Relationships: Phobos Escanor & Will Vandom
Kudos: 4





	The Seven Jewels of Guardia

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't tag Elemental Gelade, because none of the original characters even appear here. And I also revamped many of the concepts, fusing elements from the manga, anime, and my own together. Elemental Gelade is basically about magical (not-)human weapons (think Soul Eater), but in this fic I removed many of its eyebrow-raising themes.
> 
> Anyway, enough of me. Enjoy the fic!

Blur.

_"Quickly! Find him!"_

Break.

_"Eliminate him, you fools!"_

Sirens.

_"...my name, my name is Phobos..."_

**Sirens!**

_"...my goal, I have to go to, to go to...!"_

Hunger. Exhaustion. Darkness.

And a haze of silent, murky dreams, waves of shapes and colors and muffled voices.

* * *

"You're awake!"

He stirred from the bed, shooting pain in his head and a terrible ache in his back. The rough sheets crumpled beneath his feet as he struggled to get up. The man stretched his hand, opening and closing them, turning them around - yes. He was alive, thank goodness.

He turned around and saw a red-haired teenage girl.

"--then we found you, almost dried up in the sand--"

Her voice was so chipper, so annoying in his ears. Does she ever stop talking? His headache got worse. She was probably the reason for that.

"--so we brought you here to freshen up. Thought you wouldn't like too much company. It's a super public holiday out there--"

He decided he hated her.

The man shoved himself from bed and stumbled towards the nearest door.

"--Kashea Ire's got so many people--hey!"

The girl pulled him away, and he grimaced.

"That's my kitchen! It's a mess there, I promise!"

"I don't care. I have to leave."

_"...my goal, I have to go to, to go to...!"_

"Well, where are you going?"

_"My goal, I have to go to...!"_

He... he didn't remember? The man buried his hands in his hair. Where was he supposed to go again? He searched in his memory--

Sirens. Breaking. Flesh. Wound--

"Ow!" He fell to the floor, his headache growing to be agonizing. As quick as they came, the pangs faded, and when the man looked up, the girl had leaves in her hand.

"Are you all right? What should I get you? I have something for stomachache, for headaches, for chest pain--"

He waved her off and got up. "No, I'm fine. I need to go."

"But you just got up!"

"I need to go. I know I have to."

He shoved her aside and barged out the door - oh, wrong one. The girl complained, nonetheless. He closed it and turned towards the second door on the other side of the room and finally stepped outside.

Wow. _Wow._ That was a very blinding light. The sun was merciless. He grimaced as he slowly adjusted to the sunny, sandy roads, and upon finally taking in the scenery before him, he noticed that the people around him were staring. He glared at them and shook his head when not a single person got his message. Had they not seen a stranger before?

"S-sorry about that!" said the girl. Oh, was she so persistent!

Even so, the man began walking. Behind him, he could hear every citizen out on the streets call for the girl - Alchemy. Alchemy was the name she went by. She seemed to be a foreigner like himself, for most others had dark skin and wider noses, he observed. They called her Alchemy.

Name, name... he had a name too.

_"My name is..."_

"My name..." he repeated under his breath, "Is Phobos."

And then pain, once again. He scowled and groaned.

"Mister! I told you you should be resting! Come on, let's get some water for you."

"No!" The pain, the throbbing migraine - he needed answers. He needed _memories._ "I have to know... where am I?"

The girl huffed. "I just said we're in Kashea Ire, the city of love, the desert rose oasis!"

"Not enough." He needed to know more. This place was not the place he needed to go to. Places, places - aha! A map! "I have to look at a map."

"I can take you to the library for that, but can you at least, please, drink some water?"

She shoved a bottle to his face - as far as she could reach to his face, anyway. His eye twitched, but an itch caressed his throat and his tight-fitting shirt reminded him he was sweaty, and he snatched the bottle begrudgingly.

"It's a pity you always have this scary, mean face. I mean, you're quite handsome!"

Thanks, but, "I do what I want with my face."

Alchemy puffed her cheeks. What? Phobos shrugged it off and drank.

"Well, the library's this way. What's the deal, anyway? How'd you end up in the desert?"

He shrugged again. "Hell if I know."

That seemed to have given her the message, for she said no more to him. But, truly, how would he even answer most of her questions, when he sought answers himself?

Phobos followed the girl's lead. His eyes darted about, observing his surroundings once more. Shimmering clean water flowed endlessly in every ditch and canal, and everywhere littered signs warning against spoiling the water.

_Cold!_

Now that he thought of it, the water he drank was actually very cold. He wondered if it was the same everywhere, for he saw a lot of people gathered next to the ditches, wiping their brows and necks.

Oh, well. It wasn't like he actually cared. It just seemed so odd that chillingly cold water flowed through a hot desert town such as this one.

Whatever. He still had somewhere to go to.

After a few more minutes of walking around the town and dodging crowds, he found themselves in front of a small establishment.

"Here it is, the library!" Alchemy chirped, and her high pitch banged against his head. "It's actually bigger inside, because it goes underground."

Phobos raised a brow and a plan hatched in his head. "Alright."

He pushed the door and glided inside the hall.

"If it's too cold for you, I'll ask the librarian if we can borrow some coats."

Coats? His fingers started tingling, and he stared at his hand. Shivers ran along his skin--

Cold! It was cold, like the water! More shivers ran down his spine; the door was cold against his fingers and the library itself was cold.

Now, he didn't know what he found more chilling - the temperature himself, the fact that he stood there for a good while before realizing that it was truly very cold. He rubbed his arms for extra warmth - or assurance.

"Here you go!"

Phobos turned to Alchemy and pushed the coat away. "Don't need it."

"Well, at least sign the visitor list!"

Grimacing, he decided to ignore her words and enter beyond the lobby. She called for him, but someone hissed and scolded her. Phobos shrugged it off and proceeded anyway. Soon he heard no more footsteps or high-pitched pleas behind him - hah, good riddance.

* * *

The library was not just ridiculously cold; it was also ridiculously huge. There was not much difference from one shelf to another, and it didn't help that Phobos couldn't understand the labels. By a stroke of luck, his weary eyes settled on a small map of the structure plastered against a wall - it at least told him there were four floors underground.

"Mister! Where are you?"

A girl's voice behind him kicked off urgency into his instincts. Phobos decided to hide in the bottommost level and take the stairs. That way, Alchemy wouldn't be able to see where he just went and hopefully, he could get her off his back.

He ran around and eventually found a staircase behind a door that was rather difficult to open. He listened in before going down, down, down, as far as he could go with the staircase. The deeper he went, the colder it got - and he would like not to regret grabbing that coat Alchemy offered him.

He rubbed his arms as he explored the bottommost level - which seemed to be something akin to a facility. An underground bunker for emergencies, perhaps? Phobos touched the metallic wall - _brr_ , now _that's_ cold! In curiosity, he knocked on the wall twice and its deep tangs told him it was thick.

"Hey! You're not allowed in here!"

Phobos turned his head. Someone pointed at him rather angrily. How rude!

"I'm busy escaping from someone. Leave me."

"Well this place is off-limits. Get outta here, man."

Phobos then eyed the other person. Huh. The stranger was dressed funny compared to the others he'd seen so far. Plus, this person seemed to be a foreigner.

"But if it’s off-limits, why are _you_ here?"

The other guy walked up to him and took him by his shirt. "Look, I'm the custodian here. And you're just a weirdo who can't feel the cold. So get outta here, you degenerate."

"Leave me alone!" Phobos shoved the stranger's hand away. The stranger hissed as he recoiled.

"Sir! You can’t just be here!"

Tired of the man already, Phobos punched him. The stranger furrowed his brows and prepared to punch back, but Phobos was faster and a knee to the gut was all it took to bring the so-called custodian down.

Phobos clicked his tongue and proceeded. Today was not a good day to wake up to.

At the end of the hallway, he was met by a large door. The whole scenario was familiar to him - a facility made of metal, the wide hallway that's somehow deserted, and a door that had a keypad and needed an ID. Phobos already knew what to do - turn around, grab the custodian's ID, and get back here. That was what he did, exactly, but it puzzled him as to why he knew the process. Perhaps he worked in a similar facility like this - hopefully not as a custodian.

Not knowing much further annoyed him. The more he discovered, the more he didn't know about. His eye twitched, and as he swiped the card over the keypad slot, the door opened to a very dark abyss.

As he walked in, the door automatically closed behind him. He felt around for anything like a switch, and his hands copped over a lever. He pulled it down - nothing, so he pushed it up.

Machinery whirred around him, and a few green bulbs lit up. It was some sort of laboratory, Phobos assumed. There were large vats here and there, though all that illuminated was water. A treatment facility, perhaps? He needed more light.

He made his way towards what seemed to be a control panel and pressed buttons here and there. More machinery whirred and it irritated him. All he needed were lights. Why would a library have a complex facility like this? For all he knew this laboratory could just be a reservoir, but not finding any switches for the lights was getting tiring.

The machines beeped again and again, and in an angry huff, he slammed his fist against the console. Then light filtered in - finally. He turned around, but the light wouldn't stop getting brighter. It blinded him! That, that needed to stop.

He fought against the bright light and struggled over wires and various other objects. Whatever he opened, he had to close, right? If he couldn't do it with a push of a button, doing it manually would have to do--

And he gasped.

_It’s cold!_

His eyes finally adjusted to the light - a large hall filled with bright lights and cold steam greeted him. The white walls were adorned with all sorts of mystic runes in golden-green - no, it was both gold and green, gold glittering green and green glittering gold. He then turned his attention towards the circular structures of the ceiling and the floor – glass covered most of the surface, adorned by wide rings of a rosy pale gold. It reminded him of a clock.

But what made him shiver even more was that, beneath his feet and the glass was ice. A room filled with ice under the floor.

A nagging feeling told him he should've stayed with Alchemy, but he shook his head. No. He ought to be here. It was better to be alone than to be with her.

His heart pounded with fear and astonishment when the cold mist gave him glimpses of the secret the room held. As he gazed at the ice, he realized there was a foot. He followed the foot to a leg, to a torso, to a covered face. Someone was trapped inside?!

He dropped to his knees and ignored the hot-wet sensation of the cold seeping into his pants. This wasn't just real. His heart panicked in his ears. This had to be something like a sculpture, a work of art, anything that wasn't flesh and bone! He rubbed the glass, but the haze wouldn’t come off. This could just be a doll; there’s no way someone of blood and breath would be sleeping in this cold, icy cage!

He knocked against the glass, scratched it, felt around - nothing. See? The person there wasn’t alive. They couldn’t be.

But what if they were? Phobos’ eyes scanned the room - there was something like a podium by the entrance, and he ran to it. He frantically pushed and pulled at the buttons and levers, until the rings on the ceiling began twisting and turning, and the rings on the floor began levitating. Now Phobos was wishing he really had taken that coat, or maybe even stole the custodian's top or something, because now it was really, really cold!

Biting down his regrets and rubbing his arms, he approached the figure once more and carried the body out of its unbelievably cold container, out into the laboratory area. He set the body down and examined it – oh, a woman. Not only was this person inside that cell, but she was scantily-clothed for the temperature as well. A doll. It had to be a doll, right? Phobos squeezed her hand and its softness told him this person was real, alive - and that couldn't have been true, because it was so unbearably, miserably cold on top of all that ice!

In addition to the scanty clothing was this metal plate attached over the stranger's head using slim pieces of cloth, and like ribbons, the cloth wrapped around all over her body. Phobos worked on removing the plate rather quickly and tossed it aside.

Ah. What a beautiful red-haired woman.

Heat crept to his face, and Phobos slapped his cheeks several times. What was he doing? He shouldn't be messing around with mannequins or dolls like this! And he still hadn't figured out a way out of this place.

He bent over to pick up the plate and examine it. He tied the plate over his waist like a belt and made his way to the exit. If he met with Alchemy, it was bad luck, and he probably deserved it. Besides, he still needed her to explain a way to get out of this place. Then he could think of how to get rid of her.

Today wasn't just a very good day to wake up to, and it didn't help that he didn't remember anything about where he was supposed to go--

"A-are we in Adil Garden?"

_"...my goal, I have to go to, to go to...!"_

Adil Garden. _Adil Garden!_ That was it! That what where he was supposed to go! Phobos snapped his fingers - but who just spoke?!

He then found the doll he just rescued having rose to its feet, observing its surroundings. Okay - that was not normal at all. It couldn't have been alive - not that he bothered to check for a pulse or for breathing, but that just didn't make sense!

"Is this Adil Garden?"

_But you're not even supposed to be alive!_ "...no."

"...I thought for sure I’d be in Adil Garden! Did I get into the wrong cryocapsule?"

Phobos frowned. Things weren’t adding up. If this doll was indeed a person, she couldn’t have survived all that ice. There was no way a person would come out of that alive – it was just too cold for comfort and she could’ve died out of… hyper… hypo… whichever cold-disease it was, a name that did not register well in his memories.

The not-doll then eyed him up and down… and up.

"What? Are you here to take me or something?"

"No."

"Then why's that seal with you?"

"What?"

"That thing by your hip?"

Phobos eyed the plate. Was it supposed to have some meaning? "I took it off you."

"...huh. So you're planning on using it on another?"

"No?! What's with all these accusations?"

"You're basically the only person here, so I figured..."

"Don't. Don't figure out anything. I can't tell, I can't say; I woke up today with no memories." Phobos wasn't planning to spill that, but he didn't want to bother with this stranger anymore, either.

The obviously-a-person crossed her arms. "Well I only woke up today either. What makes you think I can figure things out myself?"

"I'm just saying--!"

"If you got here, you definitely know how to get out of here, right? I'm hungry."

He grimaced and marched towards the door. No, no, nope, he wasn’t going to entertain this, and he wasn’t going to play babysitter to somebody who needed babysitting. They would be two blind fools!

"Hey! Don't leave me!"

Besides, he spent too much time here alread—

But before Phobos could even touch the door, it slammed open, and a group of uniformed men encircled them, pointing guns towards him. He whipped his head around and raised his hands in confusion, and a woman in pink approached in carefully-punctuated steps.

"Who knew that this could be the day?" the woman in pink remarked, tossing her brown hair behind her. "Some nerve you have, snooping around places you aren’t meant to be in."

Phobos furrowed his brows. Today really, really wasn’t a very good day to wake up to. "...I got lost."

"And you 'accidentally' took the Jewel with you; not to mention you also ‘accidentally’ knocked out a janitor. Of course. Where had I heard that before?"

He might’ve knocked that custodian out, but, "'Jewel'?" What jewel? He certainly only saw a doll come to life!

Then behind him came a whisper. "I think that would be me. Thanks for the rescue, by the way." The redhead winked.

But it wasn’t even his intention to ‘rescue’ her in the first place! What did they mean by ‘Jewel’? She couldn’t have been an object, like a, like a—

"Restrain the jewel! And arrest that man!"

Phobos shook his head. Things weren’t making sense! "I didn't even do anything!" And what did they mean by ‘Jewel’? What was going on here?!

"Wait!" the redhead waved her hand, "He's my pledger!"

"Then kill him!"

Phobos glared at the redhead. From bad, to worse! Maybe he should’ve just stuck with Alchemy…

The redhead stuck her tongue out and crunched her fist in her palm. "Ready, partner?"

“I’m not—” But was there really anything better to do? “I hate you."

With no other way around it, the two brawled with their would-be captors. A mess of hitting fists, cocking weapons, and kicking feet ensued.

_Survive._

His companion took the first swing and kicked someone’s head. Nice.

A gun fired off and glass shattered, and in the shock, Phobos snatched one of the guns and knocked down a uniformed man. Someone grabbed him by the hair, and he slipped, gun flipping out of his hand. He watched his new companion throw a kick at their opponent – and Phobos fell on his back. _Ow!_

_Survive, Phobos._

A uniformed man pointed a gun at his face, and with his long legs, Phobos swiped at his opponents’ feet.

“Hey! Let go!”

At his companion’s distressed calls, he lunged himself forward and tackled down yet another opponent. He saw another plate with the embroidered cloth and swiped it. He sloppily whirled it about like a whip. Better than anything, really.

He hit another uniformed man, and another, and another.

_Survive!_

Finding that he and his new companion had easily disabled and knocked down all the armed men, they turned to the woman in pink, who stood aghast at what had just transpired. They slowly closed in on her, and she took a few steps back... before whipping up a radio to her lips.

"I need backup! The Jewel made contact with a pledger!"

And the radio answered back, "Kill the pledger. We'll deal with the Jewel."

Alarmed, Phobos knocked the woman down with his plate-whip. She fell to the ground with a thud. Good. But not he nor his new companion were going to test their luck and safety in this underground facility. The redhead inked arms with Phobos and made a run for it. Soon it was Phobos who was leading them out of the exit, his legs and strides longer than hers.

"Why'd the hell did you say that?!" he complained through his pants. "That thing with the pledger stuff?!"

"Before I went to sleep that usually saved people from being executed!"

"What?"

"But you do know I'm an adilraid, do you?"

“ _What?!_ ”

They reached the top floor, but found the library deserted. He wondered where Alchemy was – but no, there was no time to worry about others when his life was on the line. There could be more opponents waiting for them outside.

"Look!" The woman pointed to the window. “Let’s steal that motorbike!”

"Are you crazy? I'm not a thief and I’m not working with you!"

"What? You wanna escape or you wanna die?"

Without much to argue against, Phobos grabbed a coat hanging nearby, and the two crashed away using someone’s white motorbike. The crowd squealed and yelled, and the motorbike’s owner called for somebody to stop them, but it was too late.

* * *

Everything was a blur.

When Phobos could think straight again, he grimaced – the “coat” he grabbed from the library was two cloaks sitting on top of one another. Even so, the moment his companion made a quick pit stop for supplies, he offered her a cloak and she gladly slipped into it. He wore the second one and—

Oh, he forgot to take one of the guns. That would’ve been handy, even for a few rounds. At the least, he now had two plates. He’d been told it was for sealing, but for sealing exactly what?

…he knew how to fight. He knew what weapons were. Just what kind of life did he live before?

“I feel bad about stealing, but it isn’t like we can convince people we’re absolutely pure of any crime!” his companion said as she slid out of a house she barged into. In her hands was a filled bag. Now, what kind of life was people living here, and why didn’t they lock doors? “I got some bread and fruits. Are you okay with working off without money?”

“…what’s money?”

His companion squinted her eyes. She ducked into the house again and came out with a small bag of… small gold or copper trinkets.

“These are coins. They’re used to pay for things. Now, I’m holding onto this, clearly as you don’t have a clue of what—”

“ _There they are!_ ”

She tossed everything into Phobos’ arms and got on the motorbike. “Get on!”

He could use less interruptions, really, but what was there to do but get on the bike and escape? They needed to stop somewhere safer—

And hopefully, no one would treat him as some sort of fugitive there.

* * *

As he and his red-haired companion sped through the town again, Phobos then remembered something he had forgotten to get answers - "What's an adilraid." It was more of a statement than a question, because really, there’s only too many questions he could throw in a day.

"You, you don't know what an adilraid is?"

Phobos shook his head. "No."

" _...huh._ Then why'd you come with me?"

He grimaced. There was no real reason as to why he went along. One moment, a gun was pointed at him; the next he had to escape. It was all because there were people out for his blood, all because of this person’s lie. “…because you'd take responsibility?”

“For what?”

“For that little lie you said? For me being a fugitive?”

“Little lie… remind me again?”

If she was playing dumb, he was more than happy to throw her off the motorbike – if only he knew how to operate it. “You said I was your pledger. What did that even mean?”

“When an adilraid reacts with somebody, they become the adilraid’s pledger. Wait, you don’t even know what an adilraid is.”

None of that made sense, but, _fine_ , he’d take it. “…right.” If only he just knew where his destination was, where _everything_ was…

“What do you want anyway? If you don’t want to keep travelling with me, I can leave you somewhere, then just figure things out on your own.”

“No. I need a guide. I have to go to Adil Garden."

"Seriously? Adil Garden?”

“Yeah.”

“You got big dreams for someone who doesn't even know what an adilraid is."

Phobos clicked his tongue. "So can you drop me there, or not?"

"I’m pretty sure Adil Garden is nowhere near a desert, but yeah, sure. I’m on my way there and it’s gonna be really dangerous for me, so it might be better if we go together.”

He didn’t want to continue his journey with her or with anyone else for that matter, but fine. He did need a guide, anyway. “Fine. Just until we get there.”

“But you definitely need more than just a motorbike for that. You'd need a hoverstone and a working airship."

Phobos stared at the sky again. Flags hovered about on many rooftops, and soon, it was just endless blue sky, endless sand all around them.

"Will."

He jolted. "What?"

"You sure like saying 'what' a lot, don't you?"

"I wasn't paying attention. What is it?"

"You can call me Will."

"...Phobos."

"Well, let's get to Adil Garden then, Phobos."

"Yeah. Sure."

Sure felt like an endless motorbike ride too.

* * *

In a far, far place called Adil Garden, a country that floated against a large mountain of hoverstone, airships with black flags flew here and there, ensuring the safety of their perimeters and society. The citizens of this fine and immaculate kingdom carried on with life as usual – a woman adorned her balcony with flowers, friends chitchatted merrily about the Queen, and a man snored against his desk, until he was rudely awakened by a short woman barging into his room.

“Cedric, Cedric, Cedric!” she yapped, “We got news! Bad news and good news!”

The man lifted an eyelid with a grimace. “Shut up, Miranda. If it’s about Ludmoore I don’t want to hear it.”

The woman ignored him and instead sat upon his desk. Business as usual! “Okay, so good news first, or bad news?”

“No.”

“Okay, so, bad news: we just lost a Jewel! Someone just awakened the one in Kashea Ire and they’ve escaped together.”

The man raised his head. “But that’s supposed to be Ludmoore’s responsibility! I told you—”

“The good news is, we’re being assigned to take care of it. Ludmoore’s just gonna be sitting back in the lab, like before, and we get to leave the lab. Whaddya say?”

The man rubbed his eyes and nose bridge. Finally. It was time. He was bored out of his mind rotting in this office, anyway.

He flung himself out of his swivel chair and abandoned his lab coat. He stormed out of his office, donned his armor, and marched down the hallway, all the while his companion was skipping next to him like a hippy-hoppity frog.

“Get someone to clean out my office, Miranda,” he told his partner, “And look into who was directly in charge of Kashea Ire.”

“And you?”

“I’m gonna look into how we’re going to capture that Jewel. We’re going to be in serious trouble if we’re going to face her and her new pledger.”

The man interlaced his fingers and stretched them.

“Don’t go too far where we can’t see you, Wilhelmina Vandom.”


End file.
